Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

When she was sixteen, Joanna Archer was brutally assaulted and left to die in the Nevada desert.

By rights, she should be dead.

Now a photographer by day, she prowls a different Las Vegas after sunset  a grim, secret Sin City where Light battles Shadow  seeking answers to whom or what she really is...and revenge for the horrors she was forced to endure.

But the nightmare is just beginning  for the demons are hunting Joanna, and the powerful shadows want her for their own...

Review

"Despite its romance pedigree (Kim Harrison and Charlaine Harris contribute advance praise), this moody, fast-paced debut falls into the growing 'dark fantasy' category, which blends fantasy, comic book superheroism and paranormal romance, but holds no promise of a happily-ever-after. The book's heroine, Joanna Archer, has spent the years following a brutal attack learning martial arts and trolling Sin City, Nev., for trouble. On the eve of her 25th birthday, she finds it in the form of a peculiar date who looks like a gaunt banker one moment and like hell spawn the next. Joanna fights her way out of his grasp, but her close encounter is only the beginning. Before long, she finds herself caught up in a world where a superhuman few  the Light  fight evil from the Shadow realm, a world in which she's recognized as the 'Kairos,' a prophesied warrior made up of both Shadow and Light who's destined to help Light prevail. Pettersson centers her story around the signs of the Zodiac, putting an imaginative spin on a familiar setup. Though graphic scenes (in which tongues are severed, heads ripped off, etc.) will repel some readers, others will embrace Pettersson's enduring, tough-as-nails heroine and anticipate gleefully the next volume, due in April." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review

Review

“The Scent of Shadows came out of nowhere and slapped me silly. … Youre going to love this.” Kim Harrison

Synopsis

Brutally assaulted and left to die in the Nevada desert as a teenager, Joanna Archer somehow survived and now, a photographer by day, she prowls the dark streets of Las Vegas after sunset, searching for the truth about who or what she really is and seeking revenge for the horrors she had been forced to endure. Original.

Synopsis

This action-packed debut features a young woman who must choose between her destiny as a brave member of the Zodiac and the dark forces that want to tear her life apart. Original.

About the Author

The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Scent of Shadows, The Taste of Night, The Touch of Twilight, City of Souls, and Cheat the Grave, Vicki Pettersson was born and raised in Vegas. She still lives in Sin City, where a backyard view of the Strip regularly inspires her to set down her martini and head back to the computer.